This blog is all about genealogy. I am a college student who has been bitten by the genealogy bug. This is my place to share my family tree, my tips and suggestions, along with my genealogy related opinions.

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Sunday, August 3, 2008

So since last night I have been doing some genealogy research on my paternal grandmother's side of the family. She comes from a bunch of common last name (Frank, Rogers, Morris...it makes my head spin).

So I was surfing the net and came across someone who appeared to have done the research for me. So I printed the information, sources (that were not properly cited) and all. I then went onto Ancestry in hope of finding that this information was all true, and that finally, my headache was atleast over for the moment.

Well, the first census I was looking for was for a James Frank, his wife Julia, their daughter and my ancestor Josephine. According to this last researcher's notes, they were supposed to be in the 1870 census in Indianapolis (Ward 3), Marion, Indiana. So, accordingly I start my search with this knowledge.There were 17 results - ALL of which had the James Frank, Julia, and Josephine that I needed to find. All of them were living in Indianapolis (Ward 3). I stared at the screen dumbfounded....

Honestly...how many James Franks can there be out there who married a Julia and had a daughter named Josephine who lived in Indianapolis Ward 3 in 1870? Apparently...the answer was 17.

So then I looked back at the researchers information and found that James Frank was a Real Estate Agent. So I looked at my search results and narrowed it down to only those as Real Estate Agents...

Guess how many were left? Go ahead...just guess....

There were still FIVE more left. Honestly...this is like a joke....a really sick joke that Ancestry.com is playing on me. How could it possibly be true?

Honestly...my head hurts so much that I can't even begin to figure out how to sort through these. I've never come across a situation like this...It is pretty much pure insanity!

1 comments:

Ancestry can be a little odd as to how they provide their search results. What you probably saw when you narrowed it down by occupation were five entries referring to the same household -- one entry reflects the husband, one entry reflects the wife (since the husband is listed), and one for each of the children (since the father is listed). It sure would make it easier if they displayed results in a more logical manner!